party hats and other silly things we do!

It's important to me to celebrate family occasions as a family whenever possible. Last night we got together to celebrate my son Matthew's 29th birthday. It seemed like yesterday that he was born and now he's grown done with college and on his own, gosh did time fly.

I see so many parents out there in blog land and in real life who are in a rush to get their kids grown to push them through their precious stages of development; what I wouldn't do to have those moments back with all my kids. But I must say I enjoy very much being a parent of grown children and having my grand babies to spoil.

My daughter Heather called me the other day after my husband and I had left their house and said to me, "I went upstairs then their they were waving twenty dollar bills as if they'd just pulled off the heist of the century." She then added with a chuckle, "I knew you had given them that money for vacation but they were trying with their last breath to convince me to take them to Game Stop to get a new video game and I wasn't buying it for a minute!"  As a grandmother I have to tell you honestly I just love this, I cannot tell you how much!

Now back to birthdays and our family. As we were  seated around the table at the restaurant I was thinking about the little things we do with our kids and how they'll carry those things with them, make it their own and even build on it when they have kids of their own or get older. Those things that grow from the seed planted from the importance of family.

My kids know for instance  that birthday dinners when they were little or living home they always got to pick the meal and the cake; what ever they wanted and Mom's cooked it just for them. But now that they've grown and they have busy lives and work and families of their own we tend to go out to eat to celebrate birthdays.

My daughter Heather has started a bit of a tradition of her own which I love, she and her husband are both working parents. He works nights and she days so the kids always have a parent home with them.

Whenever we meet for a birthday for one of my grandsons they MUST wear a birthday hat during their birthday dinner. It's a rather funny thing too! Now mind you her kids are ages 9-13 so it's not to humiliating yet! I found two of the boys pictures on my cell here are the last two birthdays celebrated with their hats.

Adam on his 13th

Xavier on his 9th

Last night we celebrated my sons 29th birthday and she forgot to bring her brothers birthday hat to the restaurant so she had to improvise; and made one out of several napkins from the table. We were at a local sports bar so the head lock went surprisingly unnoticed by the other patrons on the outdoor patio. Oh that's right did I mention she had to put him in a head lock to get the thing on his head?

Matthew on his 29th

Nothing more than a few silly hats and a lot of laughs and new memories are made that we carry with us for the rest of our lives. So tell me what do you do? Any silly little rituals that make your family birthday's special?